Prepared by Lilia Belousova and Vlad Buga

Published by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North
Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo, ND, 2002, 300 pages,
softcover.

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased to announce
publication of Fond 53 prepared by Lilia Belousova of the
Odessa State Archives, and by her son, Vlad Buga. Ms. Belousova
is a well-known researcher, speaker and writer who specializes in
the former German colonies of the Black Sea and Bessarabia. She
continues work on completing publication of other Fonds of the Odessa
State Archives.

In May 2001, Lilia Belousova discussed with Michael M. Miller,
Bibliographer, Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota
State University Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, the possibility
of publishing of Fond 53.

This publication includes inventory files; name index with lists
of individuals; geographical index; "State Archives of Odessa
Region: German Settlements in the south of Ukraine (Fond List)";
Odessa 1908 Volosts and Villages (Register); and color map of Khersonskaya
Guberniya, 1905.

Mary Lynn Axtman, proofreader for Fond 53, shares this message:

This Fond 53 Guide relates mainly to the eleven Grossliebental
Colonies and is special because those were the first established
German Colonies in the Black Sea area. The value of this Fond
53 publication is that those files contain the earliest and
most complete records for the years of 1815 to 1920. While the colonies
and people's names mostly relate to the Grossliebental District,
there are various other area colonies and villagers referenced also.
Some file records of interest relate to: delivery of passports,
guardianships, property inventories, recruit lists, village elections
and migration to Siberia.

What makes this publication unique are the files and their content
descriptions for the years of 1850 to 1920. In these can be found
names and information about many of those Germans families who stayed
in Russia and were caught up in the events of WW 1, the Russian
Revolution and the Soviet collectivization changes. Here we can
find names of numerous men who were in the Russian military, those
who may have been killed and guardianship is being established for
their dependent spouses and children, requests for food relief and
initial changes in their property and agricultural practices under
the collective system. Those years of 1914 to 1920 were of such
change for those families who stayed in Russia while many of their
families in North America lost contact with them. This Fond 53 publication
provides file information relating to those eventful and difficult
years that can be of further historic and family research value
for many researchers.

We are very grateful to Lilia Belousova, Head of the Department
of Information, Publication and External Relations at the State
Archives of the Odessa Region (SOAR) for this important work towards
making this guide available to interested researchers.

It is felt that this indexed guide will be of value to researchers
and readers alike. Not only will it help interested persons locate
files of interest to them but the detailed descriptions of the each
of the file's contents will give the reader a better sense of the
lives and events that concerned the German settlers in South Russia.